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One of the good things about Luke living and working in the same building is that when Luke is awake, the bar tends to be open. It's nice for the early morning drinkers, or the ones that never went to sleep in the first place. Lunchtime has its own set of regulars that show up, but the lunchtime crowd tends to just come in for an afternoon fix before rushing back off to whatever job they are trying to escape from for a few moments.
The time in-between? That is where Luke cleans up the bar, like he is doing now. Towel in hand, Luke is wandering around the bar room and polishing the wood of the tables that have recently been used. He whistles quietly to himself as he works, the tabletops looking nice and shiny from the elbow grease Luke has put into it.
Danny is a bit on the random side. He shows up in the middle of the slow shift, apparently having come down to Harlem from the office, as he's in a grey suit with a white shirt and blue tie. He makes his way inside and over toward the bar, sliding onto a seat there and considering the bottles that he can see, as though contemplating what he might want to have to drink. He doesn't seem to be in any particular hurry.
Gidget was on her way to the office but made a pitstop by Luke's place just for giggles. Her receptionist had called her about some stuff so she figured she'd….procrastinate. By stuff she meant a problem client they all hated and that Gidget always had to dodge. Sighing softly she would make her way into the bar rocking a pair of wide leg white pants and a black cropped tank with a white blazer. Around her neck hung that weird looking pendant that she seemed to have a fondness for; it was bohemian chick and a heck of a find. Those oversized shades were once again on her face though she didn't take them off yet as she ran her fingers through her short hair.
Luke gives Danny a nod as he walks in. Slinging the towel over his shoulder, he starts makes his way behind the bar to move over in front of him and gives a little smile. "Nice suit, man. Stylin'. What can I get for ya? Scotch? Bourbon? Beer?" He eyes the gentlemen for a moment more, "Or are you more of a martini guy?"
As Gidget walks in, he lifts a hand in a wave, "Hey Gidge. What brings you by this early? Don't usually see you down here this early int he day."
"Just a beer," Danny says and gestures, "Whatever you've got." Because cheep beer is just fine for the afternoon. When he hears Luke greet Gidget, he turns his attention in that direction and smiles at her, "Hello. Nice to see you again." The last time they'd met was in the street with a crazy rubberized cat bouncing by. "I've been meaning to stop by to talk to you about some suits."
Letting out a laugh she'd snatch those sunglasses off before pushing them into her handbag. "Just popping in to say hi. I'm on my way to the office and got told to take the long way so…." She'd shake her head a bit then as she then looked over to Danny. "Oh hey!!!" She'd wiggle her fingers then as she took up a spot at the bar. "Same here. And sure….I'd call ahead just to be sure but I'm usually there all day."
"A beer it is." says Luke as he turns to grab a glass and slipping it under one of the taps in one smooth and fluid motion. He pulls the handle as, letting the beer fill and form a nice head before settling the glass down on a coaster in front of Danny
"She makes good suits." Luke says, nodding towards Gidget. "She just finished one for me, and I was not disappointed with the service or finished product." He grins, looking over to Gidget, "Long way huh?" He reaches over head head and grabs a wine glass, filling it a white vintage from a bottle from the cubby under the bar and sliding the glass to a spot next to Danny. "She does quick work, too."
Danny gives Luke a nod of thanks when the beer is set in front of him. "Thanks," he says with a smile. "I like the speakeasy atmosphere here." He then nods when Luke mentions the quality of Gidget's work. "Yeah? She certainly seemed to know what she was talking about the last time we met." He glances over toward Gidget and says, "Good to hear a good referral though."
She'd look at the glass of wine and grinned. "….you're too good to me." Laughing the tall young woman would lean on the counter then before taking a sip of that wine. "And dude…it's easy when you have a whole place at your disposal…." Licking her lips she would look over to Danny and chuckled. "He's just being kind. But I'll take all the flattery I can get….it's a thankless job…." Giget would then look to Luke with a smile. "How much I owe you for this?"
Shrugging a shoulder, Luke looks to Gidget and contemplates for a moment, "A buck. I don't usually carry the really good stuff 'round here since not many are wine types. Though the clientele seems to be getting a bit more upscale so I should start carrying a wider selection. And you are being way to modest."
He looks to Danny, "Don't let Gidget here fool you, she is a master with a needle and thread. Hell, she didn't even stick me once when she was pinning the thing." He grins, wiping down a spot on the bar with the towel he grabs from his shoulder. "Thanks, man. I try to keep the place reputable. Sometimes I get a bad element here and there, but I manage to do all right." He slings the towel back over his shoulder and offers out his hand. "Seems like you already know Gidge. I'm Luke. Luke Cage."
Danny shrugs his shoulders and says to Luke, "Don't let the suit fool you. I like a good cheep bear." He lifts the glass and salutes Luke with it before taking a swallow form it and setting it down once more. He then says, "Yeah, heard about the big green trouble you had a while back. Looks like everything's back to normal now." He then grins over at Gidget and says "Kind or not, I haven't heard anything negative about your work yet to believe it'd be anything other than skilled." He then turns his attention back to Luke, reaching out to shake the extended hand, once, firmly but friendly, then says, "Danny Rand. Nice to meet you."
"Eh….modest….I guess." Truth be told Gidget was still feeling like that eighteen year old student….not the woman who was next in line to take over her mentor's business if he passed or got sick of it. "It's just…practice…..and patience." Licking her lips she would raise her brow at Luke then she'd pull a five out of the her bag and sat it on the counter. "Merci….." A wink then as she then looked to Danny. "Well….if you want to give me a shot….pop on by. We can do fabrics and measurements and all that stuff."
Luke Cage arches a brow. "You heard about that, did you?" Luke says, taking his hand back after the greeting. Luke's own grip was strong, but not hand crushing. "Not many people I told about that, so I'm wondering whose going around talking." He smirks, shaking his head, "Not like I care, really, but the other guy…ain't my place to go talking about his issues, if you know what I mean, Danny?"
He chuckles, looking over to Gidget and taking the cash over to the till to make change. He slides the change onto the bar next to the wine glass. "No guess about it, Gidge. Don't sell yourself short."
"Practice and patience is the key to improving any skill, and with enough, mastery," Danny says to Gidget with a sidelong smile, lifting his beer and taking another swallow from it. Then he nods and says, "Oh, I am still interested." Then he nods to Luke and says "Well, you mentioned it that day on the street, with the cat, and Kurt, and Robbie.." when they'd first run into one another. "Made a comment about how at least Kurt wasn't 9' tall and green and busting up your bar. Remember, little blue guy?" He holds his hand up about yea high.
She'd nod then. "That….and not having anything resembling a social life because you're a workaholic…." Gidget would let out a laugh as she drank a good bit more of that wine, shoving that cash back towards him him and winked. "It's the tip….." Going quiet, she'd let the two men talk as she then before chiming in. "He's right, Luke….you did bring it up back then…." She'd lean on the bar now as she shook her head. "Oh yeah! Kurt! He's a sweetie!"
"Oh, right. I guess I did, didn't I." says Luke, leaning back against the counter and nodding his head once. He folds his arms over his chest and chuckles, "Guess I need to keep my own damn mouth shut." He grins, shrugging a shoulder up and down as he looks around the bar, "Damage wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. I have a feeling that this place could have been leveled had it really come down to it."
He glances down at the $4 in change and arches a brow at Gidget, shrugging as he takes the tip to put into the till. "If you say so Gide, but the wine and service wasn't that good." He chuckles, shaking his head. "Isn't that the guy that got all up in your face because you called him German? Didn't seem so sweet to me."
"Well, that can be a side-effect," Danny agrees with Gidget, though he doesn't seem to suffer that problem personally, being out at the bar in the middle of the afternoon. He takes another swallow from his glass and leans back comfortably so that he can look at both of them as they talk. "Sorry," he says to Luke. "I figured if you were mentioning it out on the street that it wasn't much of a secret." He lifts a shoulder and lets it fall. "Won't mention it again."
Gidget was thinking for a moment then smiled. "Well…that it can. But I've finally started getting out. I've been working the past six years without any type of social life….but now that's changing!" Grinning she'd look over to Luke then and nodded. "Yeah….we ended up seeing each again at the Fair. He and I had a talk about it…." A shrug then as she looked back to her wine. "So no harm, no foul…." Yawning then she'd look at her watch and shrugged. "….geez…..that's all the time that's passed…." Rolling her eyes as she finished off her wine and pushed the glass towards Luke. "….maybe one more."
Luke Cage shakes his head. "Nah, not really a secret that it happened. Just don't want the, uh…green guy coming back thinking I was exposing his secrets or the like. Don't worry about it, man. Didn't mean to jump to conclusions. The beer is on me." Luke grins, shaking his head and chuckling. "It's not like I can go stop the guys that were here that night from talking anyway, if they ever get out of traction that is."
Luke grins with a chuckle and pulls the bottle of wine back from under the bar, filling the glass a little more than a usual pour. "Well, that's good. Glad you got things all sorted out with him then." He looks back to Danny, "So, Mr. Rand, what brings you down to my establishment today? Just out seeing the sights and decided to stop in for a pint, or did you have business down in Harlem today?"
Danny nods his head and says, "Well I don't know who he is, so I don't have any particular need to talk about it," seeming unworried. He shakes his head and says, "I can cover the beer. Seriously. No harm done." Then he says, "Sometimes you just need to go for a walk, you know? To think about things. It's kind of a meditation. I usually wander around Hell's Kitchen, drop in on my friend Matt down there, but he's been busy lately, so today I ended up in Harlem because you mentioned the bar when we met." He grins. "Figured it was time to check it out."
Giving a wink she'd then go back to her wine as she let the two men talk. Closing her eyes she would let out a soft then as she put a hand to her temple. Her eyebrow would twitch then as she started to dig in her purse for another aspirin then. Licking her lips she'd find one and tossed it in her mouth before chasing it with the wine.
Nodding again, Luke pulls another glass from the rack and pours another beer from the tap, sliding it onto the bar in front of Danny. "Fair enough. Hell, I don't know him either to be honest. Just some guy that was in here a couple of times. Hadn't seen him since." He grins, "Yeah, I get you. I tend to go for a run at times like that, take a job through central park or along the streets here. The Kitchen's pretty rough, though…you aren't worried about walking around down there in your…" he eyes Danny's suit, "What do you think, Gidge? Thousand dollar suit? You're the expert on this type of thing. All I know is that it is expensive."
He glances over at Gidget and purses his lips ever so slightly. "You have another headache? Seems to be more common with you. Maybe you should go have your head checked out."
Kai slips into the bar, dressed more for Harlem than Greenwich Village. He's in jeans and a t-shirt, his blond curls combed back, though they've mostly sprung free. "I've heard good things about this place," he says to Loki, who he holds the door open for. "I decided it was a nice change of pace." He beelines for the bar.
Danny is sitting at the bar next to Gidget. He has a beer in front of him, and she a glass of wine. They seem to be enjoying a late afternoon drink and chatting with Luke as he tends the bar. Danny looks down at his suit. Truth be told, he has no idea how much it cost. "No, I'm not worried," he admits. It is an expensive suit, and likely one that might invite a mugging or two. But he seems fairly confident. Though he glances over at Gidget and asks, "Been having a lot of headaches?"
Loki is here for just a short time. He's dressed in a coat and doesn't take it off, like he knows he will need to leave soon. But, he comes in and takes off his wool scarf and tries to hook it around Kai's neck. "I admire all the wood." He says honestly, "Since you were fired from the other job…have you thought about it?"
Sighing she would look up when she heard her name and then tilted her head as he looked. "Huh? What….?" She'd look over at Danny then as those brown eyes wandered over him. A hand would gently reach out and touch the fabric then. "….I give it seven hundred max….fabric is nice….could be fit better…." She'd look back to her wine and took a deep breath as she then looked up at him, her hand going to touch her pendant and sighed softly. "I'll be fine. I just think it's stress. I have a lot coming up…" Clearing her throat she would look to Danny with a smile and chuckled. "Just as of late….for the past few days really." Glancing over to the new patrons she'd smile then sipped her wine as she looked to Danny and Luke. "I'm fine….I swear."
"Fair enough, Mr. Rand." says Luke with a nod of appreciation and then cocks his head a bit. "Just be careful out there. I'd hate to see you end up in the news."
He looks over to the new arrivals and lifts a hand in a wave. "Welcome, gentlemen. Take a seat wherever you like and I will be right with you. If you know what you want, just let me know."
He turns to Gidget then and nods, "I bet you will be happy once this show is over. Can get rid of some of that stress that has you all wound up. If you need a stress reliever, let me know. I got harder stuff than wine."
Kai grins as that bit of Loki's finery drapes over his dressed-down self. "The job? Nah," he says. "Who needs a job? I've got a patron. Oh! I should tell you, I got that nice camera. Costs more than I made at my old job anyway. Sometimes I miss the people, but getting up before noon can go right to hell."
He grins broadly at Luke and says, "I'll take a pint of whatever you've got on tap, man. He glances to the other two at the bar and flips them a friendly wave. Then to Loki, he says, "What'll you have? You got time to stay for a beer?"
"You mean more than usual?" Danny asks Luke with a wry grin, knowing well enough how often he's shown up on the news for his identity scandal not so long ago, returning from the dead, as it were, and then of course being falsely put on trial for murder, for which he was acquitted. There's a kind of ruefully self-aware amusement at that. Though when Gidget reaches over to fondle his suit, he raises a brow and then chuckles at her assessment. "Possibly, I don't honestly know." Someone else took care of the bill. He glances over at Kai and Loki as they enter and he lifts his beer in a friendly sort of greeting. More to add to the quiet afternoon crowd.
Loki chuckles as he looks around the place, nods to Danny and Gidget. "Evening. Take care of this one, hmmm?" He pulls out some cash to give to Kai. "And if he gets too drunk, he will need a non-demonic cab." Then he looks at Kai, "I will be back later. Just something down at the embassy I need to take care of." He smiles, then leaves Kai with the scarf.
She'd chuckle a bit as she nodded. "Nice…I need someone to take care of my bills." Gidget would shake her head at the thought….knowing damn well she'd never let someone do that. Looking up at the newcomers again she'd raise her hand and wave. "Hi there!" But that brow would raise as she heard about a 'non-demonic cab' and just shook her head. Nope….didn't even want to know. She'd just go back to her wine and laughed. "…never a dull moment…."
Nodding to Kai, Luke grabs a glass from the rack and sets one under the tap and starts to fill it, "No worries man." he says to Loki, "I'm pretty protective of my guests, he'll be fine." When the glass is full he slides it onto the bar in front of Kai, slipping a coaster under it at the last second.
He turns to Dany and cocks his head, and then a look of understanding comes over his face. "Oh, shit. You're /that/ Danny Rand. Ha. Would never think I would have you grace my place, man. Don't worry, I won't change the price of beer on you, even though you went for the cheap stuff." He grins with a chuckle, "I guess I wasn't kidding about my clientele getting higher class."
He turns to address Gidget, "Around here? Dull as they get. Nothing exciting ever happens in here. You know that."
Danny lifts a hand to wave to Loki as he heads out, leaving Kai behind with scarf. Motioning to the empty space at the bar nearby, he welcomes Kai to join them in their conversation. Then he looks back over toward Luke and shakes his head, "Why not? I like cheap beer and good conversation. I'll be honest, most of the upscale places — I just don't feel all that comfortable in." He barely feels comfortable in the suit, but it is the one concession that he makes to Rand Corporation — looking the part if he's going to take an active role in the company. He grins though and says, "I thought you were talking about Gidget," not necessarily considering himself a higher class of clientel. He chuckles though, both at Gidget's comment and Luke's retort.
Kai counts the money Loki's left him, and his brows lift. He whistles lowly, then tells Luke, "Next round is on me, mate." He lays down a few bills to cover it, then pockets the rest. "And that's why I don't need a job," he says. He leans on the counter, and he takes the beer once it's set before him and proceeds to drink. And drink, and drink.
Looking at Luke she'd just shak her head. "No comment…." As she looked to Danny and Kai her brow would raise. "Me? Oh I just pass well. My mother and father had me as one of those debutantes….then I spent a lot of time in Europe when I first got my job with my mentor. I deal with a pretty high end clientele but hell….dressing down and drinking whiskey is where it's at." Laughing she would shake her head and shrugged a bit before looking to Kai. Watching him down the beer she would raise her brow then just sipped her wine then. Let's see how longt his lasts.
Luke Cage smirks at Gidget. "That's a first." he says with a grin. "No comment from you? Well, you're not Jessica, so I guess I shouldn't expect the snark from you. But she's not wrong. I've seen her put away scotch with the best of them." He laughs, turning to Danny with a grin. "Well, you're welcome down here anytime. I try to keep an open place, no status or other qualifying factors to who gets to come here. You can tell your friend Kurt he is welcome to, if he ever wants a beer."
Luke takes the money from Kai, and slips it into the till, making change and placing back on the bar the change before going to slide another beer in front of Danny, another wind in front to Gidget, and another beer in front of Kai. "Must be nice to have a benefactor like that." Luke says with a chuckle.
"I'll let him know if I run into him again," Danny tells Luke when he mentions Kurt. He finishes off the remainder of his beer and then motions for another. It doesn't seem like he plans to go back to the office this afternoon, or if he does, perhaps not sober. He chuckles at Luke though and says, "I'll try and dress down next time so I don't give anyone the wrong impression." It's said good-naturedly. Then he looks over toward Kai and says, "I'm Danny, this is Luke, and Gidget." He does the introduction thing.
Kai finishes his first beer, then takes up the second. "This is perfect," he tells Luke with heartfelt sincerity. Sometimes an elf just needs a beer. "I'm an artist," he says, "and Serrure, the fellow who was just here, he's my patron. I paint and sculpt, he keeps me in room and board." He waves to Danny and Gidget and says, "I'm Kai. I'm not from around here, but I love places like this." His English accent would explain the 'not from around here' bit. He takes a large swig of his second beer. Mmm, beer.
"Dude if you compare me to that angry broad ever again…." Gidget would frown slightly then shook her head. "I swear…you'd think someone pissed in her cereal in the morning." Sighing she'd laugh before finishing off her wine. Looking over to Danny she'd point to herself. "I always stick out, Danny. I don't think I could dress down if I wanted to…." She'd smile and just put her hand to her head for a second thenlooked over to Kai. "Nice to meet you, Kai! And an artist huh? That sounds sooooo aweseome!"
"Hell no, you keep wearing the suit." Luke says with a laugh to Danny as he preps another beer. "Give the place a bit of class when I got folks like you and Gidget in here. Strikes a nice balance from when I have the more rowdy types in." He turns his attention to Kai and nods, "Sup, Kai." Luke says with a slight nod of acknowledgement. "Welcome, you picked a good time to show up. Good people in here at the moment."
He turns to Gidget and laughs, "Oh, Jess isn't that bad. She's just a little salty." he pauses a moment, "Ok, maybe a lot salty…but still, all in all she isn't the worst person I have ever had in here. Hell, she hasn't tried to shoot anyone." He grins, looking between Kai and Gidget, "Well, you're an artist too, Gidget. You just use fabric."
Danny smiles over at Gidget whens he points out that she always sticks out and he says, "Well you do have that certain model quality about you, plus your job is your fashion. It wouldn't make sense for you not to show it off." He then says, "Nice to meet you, Kai, welcome to the afternoon drinker's club." There's a lift of his glass and he takes another swallow, slowly working his way to the bottom and then setting it to the side. His brows raise as they talk about someone he hasn't met, but he seems intrigued, just listening in. He grins at Luke though and says, "Alright then. Though I'll be honest I'm more comfortable out of the suit than in it. I suppose once I have some fancy new ones to show off from Gidget I'll have to wear them around. Would defeat the purpose not to."
"I don't think I have a suit," says Kai. He takes another long swallow of beer, working his way through that second one in good time. "But you do look impeccable," he tells Gidget. "I appreciate a good sense of fashion." He grins at Luke. "Thanks for making me feel welcome, man. I've got good luck when it comes to people. I hope to be counted among them." Danny gets a grin. "It's my kind of club, after all."
"Salty? She could literally be the Morton's Salt girl with the amount of salt that comes out of her mouth." Rolling her eyes she'd tap on the empty glass of hers in thought then smiled at Luke. "Water?" She'd look at her watch again and laughed. "I should stop now if I want to not smell of wine on my breath." Gidget would run her fingers through her hair as she started to blush. "Come on guys….I'm no Coco Chanel….just a girl that got lucky to get chosen as an apprentice…." Smiling she'd then look over at Kai with a grin. "Why thank you. I try….sometimes. Mostly when I have work or clients to meet with…."
"I know what you mean, Mr. Rand." says Luke with a chuckle. "I'm doing a bodyguard gig for a…What is she, Gidge? Co-worker? Competitor? Partner? Someone in Gidget's business, anyway. I needed a suit, so…as fate would have it now I have a suit and a reason to wear it. He shrugs, "Otherwise, what does a bartender like me need a suit for? It's certainly not something I wear to work. To much chance it could end up damaged in some way."
He proactively starts to pour Kai another beer, sliding it up onto the bar to be next in line. "No worries, man." says Luke to Kai. "As long as people don't start shit in here, they are welcome."
He grabs a glass and fills it with some water, sliding that up onto the counter for Gidget. "Oh, just because she has the mouth of a sailor and the attitude of a badger." He grins with a shrug, "What can I say, I like her. She's a good customer."
"The only reason I really wear the suit is because the board at Rand made sad eyes at me and asked that I make just one concession, and that's show up in the suit," Danny says to Luke with a chuckle. "So I show up in the suit and they put up with my unorthodox behaviour. It's a trade-off." He chuckles, "Sounds like this Jessica is a character." Then he says to Gidget, "If you have another, then maybe you can just forget to go back to the office and stay here with us instead. They said take the long way. They didn't specify how long." He's such a troublemaker.
Kai nods slowly and tells Danny, "You're the Man, are ya? Hmm. I suppose I can still drink with you." He grins, eyes brightening. "Ta, mate," he says to Luke when another beer is delivered. He finishes off the second and starts in on that new one. He still doesn't seem overly affected. For such a little fellow, he can put it away. To Gidget, he says, "When you're working with clients, it's especially important. It's branding."
"Oh it's not the mouth of a sailor part….." Chuckling she'd shake her head then just let the topic drop then as she looked at the group. "Well guys…." She'd chug her water then as she stood up and took her handbag from the counter. "As much as I would love to play hooky….I did plenty of that last week. So I need to get to the office…" Taking a deep breath she'd look to the door and nodded. "I'll catch you later, Luke. And Danny….you know what my office is. Just come by or call and make an appointment." She'd look to Kai then with a smile. "NIce to meet you!" And with that….she was out the door.